The present invention relates to a switching apparatus including a movable unit made up of a movable contact and a movable contact holder, the movable contact being assembled to the movable contact holder, and a plurality of stationary contacts arranged along a traveling direction of the movable unit in which grease is applied between the movable contact and the stationary contacts, and the movable contact slides on the plurality of stationary contacts in association with a reciprocating movement of the movable element along a direction in which the movable contact is assembled to the movable contact holder.
A switching apparatus of this type is configured as shown in FIG. 6. A switching apparatus 101 is configured so as to include a movable unit 102 and an insulator 103. The movable unit 102 is made up of a movable contact holder 104 and a movable contact 105, the movable contact 105 being assembled to the movable contact holder 104, and is made to reciprocate on the insulator 103 in directions indicated by arrows B1, B2 in FIG. 6. A plurality of stationary contacts 106a to 106d are arranged on the insulator 103 along the traveling direction of the movable unit 102. A control circuit (not shown) for controlling onboard equipment (not shown) is connected to these stationary contacts 106a to 106d. Then, in association with a movement of the movable unit 102 in the directions indicated by the arrows B1, B2 in FIG. 6, the movable contact 105 is designed to slide on the stationary contacts 106a to 106d in the directions indicated by the arrows B1, B2 in FIG. 6.
As this occurs, depending upon a position which the movable unit 102 has reached as a result of its traveling in the directions indicated by the arrows B1, B2 in FIG. 6, among the stationary contacts 106a to 106d, the stationary contacts with which the movable contact 105 is brought into sliding contact so as to energize are changed over, and the operation of the onboard equipment is designed to be changed over according to the stationary contact that is put in an energized state as a result of energization via the movable contact 105 (refer to JP-A-2005-078838, for example).
Incidentally, in the switching apparatus 101, the movable contact 105 is inserted into an insertion port 104a which is opened along the traveling direction of the movable unit 102 and is assembled to the movable contact holder 104 in such a state that the movable contact 105 is prevented from being dislodged by raised portions 104b. In addition, it is a general practice to apply grease (not shown) as a lubricant between the movable contact 105 and the stationary contacts 106a to 106d. 
In this configuration, however, there exist the following problems.
While the grease is such as to have a function as a lubricant, in the event that temperature decreases, for example, there may occurs a case where the function as the lubricant is lost. In addition, in the event that the lubricating properties of the grease are lost, there may occur a case where the movable contact 105 securely sticks to the stationary contacts 106a to 106d side.
As this occurs, in production of a switching apparatus 101, for example, when attempting to remove the movable unit 102 from the insulator 103 in order to remount the movable unit 102, since there occurs a state where the movable contact 105 is pulled towards the insulator 103 side due to the tackiness of the grease, a force acts on the movable contact 105 in an opposite direction (the direction indicated by the arrow B1 in FIG. 6) to the direction in which the movable contact 105 is assembled to the movable contact holder 104. In addition, in a case where the switching apparatus 101 is actually used as a product, since the traveling direction of the movable unit 102 substantially coincides with the direction in which the movable contact 105 is assembled to the movable contact holder 104, when the movable unit 102 is caused to travel in the direction indicated by the arrow B2 in FIG. 6, the force acts, in this case, too, on the movable contact 105 in the opposite direction to the assembling direction of the movable contact 105 to the movable contact holder 104.
In addition, when the switching apparatus 101 is used for such a long period of time that grease is deteriorated, since there is generated a large frictional force or vibration between the movable contact 105 and the stationary contacts 106a to 106d during the travel of the movable unit 102, the force is also made to act on the movable contact 105 in the opposite direction to the assembling direction of the movable contact 105 to the movable contact holder 104 due to the effect of such a large frictional force or vibration.
Due to this, in the configuration described above in which the movable contact 105 is simply inserted into the insertion port 104a of the movable contact holder 104 so as to be prevented from being dislodged by the raised portions 104b, the movable contact 105 cannot resist the force acting thereon in the opposite direction to the assembling direction of the movable contact 105 to the movable contact holder 104 (a force acting in a direction in which the movable contact 105 is dislodged from the movable contact holder 104), resulting in a problem that the movable contact 105 is removed from the movable contact holder 104.